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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;TT Antique, post: 3919758, member: 2653&quot;]Great responses so far!,, here is my take...</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>-One advantage&nbsp; of specializing is that the picker has an &#039;above average&#039; know how on a certain field that would enable him to discern an obscured piece of potential great value i.e. the so called &#039;sleepers&#039;.. The average&nbsp; generalist picker may pass such a piece either because he has not trained his eye well enough or even if he feels the piece&nbsp; may be of importance, he may feel the price&nbsp; may be high for a thrift store or flea market purchase. But the specialist&nbsp; picker would confidently buy the piece at the given price knowing the real value of the piece is vastly higher than what he is paying for it. The generalist picker may develop a&nbsp; know how to pick pieces of collectible values in all areas. But he may lack the specialized knowledge&nbsp; that would enable him to discern the &#039;sleepers&#039;.</p><p><br /></p><p>-On the other hand one disadvantage of specializing in a certain field and looking only for pieces in that field&nbsp; is that,&nbsp; the specialized picker&nbsp; may miss&nbsp; obvious treasures in other fields that could have been easily picked up. Such a specialized&nbsp; picker (eg book picker) may enter a thrift store and scour one corner only for his&nbsp; books while all along there was a highly collectible engraving hanging over the shelf looking at him and would miss that great opportunity.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>- Hence the truth could probably lie somewhere in the middle...maybe a specialized picker specializing in say three fields&nbsp; gaining an &#039;above average&#039; knowledge in the fields (eg&nbsp; books, fine arts, porcelain) would concentrate in these areas as his focal specialized picking experience. However he could have a price guide or some kind of list on his phone for other collectable items and thier&nbsp; tell-tale signs (eg vintage cameras, vintage watches, toys, furnture, jewelry etc) as reference to casually glance around so that he may not miss obvious treasures lying around. In this business model he may divide a given thrift store or flea market experience with an&nbsp; 80/20 rule, i,e, 80 pct of his time would be spent in&nbsp; his specialized fields and the remaining 20 pct of his time to glace around for items in other collectible fields by referring to his lists on his phone. This way he could identify the &#039;sleeper&#039; treasures in his specialized fields, while he would not miss the &#039;obvious&#039; treasures in other fields. He may not have the know how to discern the &#039;sleepers&#039; in the other fields, but at least he could identify with the help of his list and price guides&nbsp;&nbsp; some of the obvious collectables lying around.</p><p><br /></p><p>would be glad to hear other differing opinions ...</p><p><br /></p><p>TTA[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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